Appraising the Situation, or every party has a pooper

Pat finally got around to reading the construction loan appraisal. It was nothing we didn't expect, "Subjects' style (flat roof) only two bedrooms, no floor covers, only 1280 SF situated among homes with over 3000sf is likely to cause obsolescence. This is an older neighborhood with mostly colonial style homes."

Our appraiser would be remiss to not mention these issues, but he is wrong in one key aspect. Most of the houses are not colonial, they too, are Frank Lloyd Wright derivatives and we live in one.

We currently live in an American Four Square, and it is easily the prettiest house we've co-owned with a bank. It is a joy to sit in the living room and look into the front room and admire the angles of the stairwell and all the lovely windows that are proportional to the rooms. We can see nature from every aspect and Frank Lloyd Wright's prairie homes are considered to be the forerunners of this home. It is a standardized version of his early Midwestern homes, in fact sometimes it is referred to as a Prairie Box.

Our present next door neighbor has a lovely Victorian house with all the trimmings, it is painted a beautiful lemon yellow with lavender trim and is a joy to view. This plain, rational house is a reaction to that.

Our usonian design, which is only about 10-15 years later than some of our future neighbor homes and predates the others by nearly 50 years, is as different from them as our American Four Square is from the Victorian. But, as our current simple home complements the whimsical style of our neighbor, so too will the low lying organic home fit into it's surroundings .